I'm getting flamed for this but people who....

[ThisAintALoveSong]

Start every frigging statement or paragraph with the word 'so' as in 'so I was doing my shopping and I stubbed my toe blah blah'.

No. Just no.

Aibu or am I the only person who gets peeved reading posts and statuses like this? It doesn't isn't sound nice reading it out in my head. Do people talk like this in real life?

prepares to get flamed heavily

I HATE 'to be fair'....it just seems to be added onto random sentences and makes no sense whatsoever! I have a friend who is constantly saying "so, moving forward..." My palms get sweaty from annoying phrases.

I'm surprised nobody has raised 'obviously' in this thread. That irritates the hell out of me and it's usually inserted into sentences liberally by footballers, lower rank emergency services personnel and voxpops interviewees. I sit there just waiting for the 'obviouslys' to pour forth and, sure enough, they invariably do, occasionally more than once in the same sentence. Sometimes, what it precedes is not obvious, but if it is, then you don't need to point it out!

Somebody upthread raised the serious point that a generation of children grow up thinking this is normal English. We have all seen the extracts from exam papers where GCSE students write things such as "Hitler's attitude to Jews was well over the top".

I think a lot of it comes from internet 'journalism'. Those click bait articles always start with things like 'So when she opened her mail this happened.....'
'You know when XYZ happens, yeah that', 'That thing when you....'

People pick it up and use it on social media and then they use it in RL.

Its easily done. I don't think 'so' falls into that category though. I notice it in RL far more than on FB

I listen to R4 a lot and most interviewees use it.

'So, just how likely are we to land on Mars?'
So...'
'Do you have any figures for the amount of children failing their GCSES?'
'So....'

STOP IT.

I understand the need for a special language online. We don't have the facial cues and tone of voice to get our point across. I can forgive some of the affectations and use them myself.

Just stop with the sodding 'So' before you say something. You are probably going to say something really interesting but I get so distracted by it and end up counting how many times you say it.

I really can't understand why its so acceptable but 'isn't it' (equally annoying and superfluous) isn't.

wideboy Obviously drives me nuts.

I think its indicative of our self centred celeb culture.

'Obviously I think xyx'
'Obviously I prefer XYD'
'Obviously I my favourite food is xyd'

They think its obvious because they are so full of their own self importance they think everyone else is interested in their every thought and feeling too.

Its the new literally.

In do the 'when' thing on FB. i aint gonna stop just because it annoys a few pedants.

Good for you onhold. That's lovely to know.

All the teenagers I know say 'to be fair' and 'to be honest' constantly. 90% of the time it means absolutely nothing and has no impact or even relation to whatever comes next. The other 10% of the time it isn't so much about 'being honest' as 'expressing an unpopular opinion'.

I think a lot of these verbal tics are just about speech punctuation, rather than meaning, and your ear skims past them. It's when they're written down that you see how meaningless they are, and it grates.

I was irritated for a very long time by 'Here's the thing..'.

I don't mind so, but it boils my wee hugely when people say 'Do you understand?' No, you're so complex and cerebral that my paltry mind cannot comprehend the twisting subtleties of your conversation.

Yep, IHate it too!!!!

No, it's infuriating. I've noticed it more and more over the last year or so. I think it's another annoying US import, like 'like', I was like and she was like, and he was like.............. GRRRRRR

Oh, and another one, while I'm being a cranky old woman..

"Do you know what I mean?" said after nearly every sentence. Favourite with Mancs and Cockneys it seems. They don't really care if you know what you mean, it's just an adjunct.

My pet hate is, 'Well, we were, like, going to the park but then it, like, started raining, so we, like came home!' NO you either did do stuff, or you didn't!!

Start singing "a needle pulling thread" they soon stop. It is an accepted fronted adverbial though so grammatically it is acceptable, even if it is immensely annoying.

Wow. Just wow.
Makes my teeth itch.

I like that Pollymere.

I have a friend who when talking about something she disagrees with, will prefix her opinion with 'I think to myself...' to which - if I am in a teasing mood and she needs help off her high horse - I respond with '...what a wonderful world!'.

My son - in common with many young people nowadays - has developed an irritating habit since starting university. When ordering in a restaurant he will ask 'Can I get...' instead of May I have...'. I have to point out to him that he is in a restaurant, not a self-service cafeteria.

OP, you are not being picky at all. I hate it.

There's definitely an undercurrent of entitlement and mild aggression with it, for sure.

I don't hate it as much as "Not being funny, right but... [I am about to make a racist or homophobic comment]

Been annoyed with this for a long time. So used like it's replacing 'well'. Neither needed. I watch daytime TV on my days off and they're all us in So. Especially the two young doctors on This Morning (not Dr Steele). Hacks me off.

I haven't read all comments. But I find the word "like" really irritating. Youngsters seem to say "I was like blah, blah, then he was like blah, blah, blah" why do they put lots of "likes" in?

A verbal tick that has overwhelmed young people is using 'like' almost every other word. Think it's a good old US import and it's, like, driving mad (upward intonation needed there).

Mumofboys we are so, like, of one mind here!

Mum of three and they mean "I said..." and "he said..."

YANBU, and yy to the person who raised you the 'When....' which drives me crazy all the time on FB.

I don't like it much. DD, who usually eschews modern language usage, has started doing it, AND she commits the cardinal sin of turning every statement into a question 😵 I shall have to kill her.

I did this months ago!

You're very late to the party.

In fact I've given up so totally I now have started several sentences with so.... 😭